TCWP Places is Officially Launched!

As you can tell, the TCWP website is still very much a work in progress. Since 2011, I've had a vision in my head of what I wanted this website to become. It took fifteen years to get here, but I've finally found a platform, Webflow, that makes it possible. It gives me the tools to build the "interactive museum" I've been imagining for a long time.

It's going to take many months before the site starts filling out with content, but today I can finally announce an important new section: Places.

Right now, Places has a single entry: the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois.

That may not sound like much, but behind the scenes I have more than 300 folders on an external hard drive filled with photographs, research notes, and write-ups from historical sites I've visited over the years. Places is where I'll be sharing those experiences and stories, one location at a time.

Why am I doing this?

Because I've seen firsthand how much many historical sites are struggling.

Since the pandemic, countless museums, historic homes, and preservation organizations have faced declining attendance, shrinking budgets, and difficult decisions. There are hundreds of battlefields, cemeteries, monuments, museums, and historic homes and buildings that most people don't even know exist.

I'd like to help change that.

My goal is to make it easier for people to discover what's out there and, hopefully, inspire them to visit these places for themselves. There is something special about standing where history happened, and I want to help more people experience that firsthand. For those who can't make the trip, I hope the stories, photographs, and occasional videos I share can bring these places to life.

No organization is paying for this. Most of the sites I write about won't even know I'm doing it. This is simply a personal project driven by my love of Civil War history and my desire to share the places I've been fortunate enough to visit, along with the places I'll explore in the future.

In my own small way, I want to help support the people who work so hard to preserve these sites and keep their stories alive. Places is my attempt to contribute to that effort and to encourage others to visit, learn, and help ensure that these pieces of our history don't fade away.

If there's a historical site you'd like to see included, or if you represent a museum, nonprofit, battlefield, historic home, or preservation organization and want to make sure your location is on my radar, please feel free to send me an email.

- Carrie